July 28, 2005

Dance for Inspiration - Just Like Kid Illusion.

Somebody's Miracle is Liz Phair's new album, slated for a 10/4 release. I've heard none of it, and the advance press materials just spit out a bunch of muck like "it's a bold, ambitious collection of songs that embraces elements of her previous work and more." What the hell, did Scott McCellan write that onesheet?

What is interesting is her choice of John Shanks and John Alagia as collaborators. They co-produced; Shanks co-wrote three songs with Phair. Shanks and Alagia are AAA swamis with impossibly succesful track records, having helmed records for Sheryl Crow, DMB, John Mayer, Michelle Branch, Melissa Etheridge, Vertical Horizon...you get the idea. This is Adult Alternative land, where the high notes plead in velvet over the pristine jangle of Taylor guitars.

"it was just Lady Sovereign, hyping an already rabidly hyped crowd for a record with a vague release date of autumn and generally hopping around like Taryn Manning after grogging 25 chalices of crunk juice." In other words, make way for the S O V!

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ALSO:

I gave Crispin Porter + Bogusky * props for its bizarre half-man/half-plastic resurrection of the Burger King. But Coq Roq? They've run out of ideas. (Adrants agrees with me.) The microsite itself is a solid parody of band sites with its message board and hyperbolic biographies. But the entire campaign has about as much appeal as chicken fries themselves. Seriously, chicken fries? Who is the dense fucker that orders these? "These are fries," he says, "because they arrive on my tray in an open-air container." He continues. "If they were chicken fingers, only smaller, as Johnny says they are, then they would have to arrive in a hinged clamshell. Now if you'll excuse me I have to refill my Fruitopia."